Of pride and prejudices, potatoes and paneer vs idli dosa!
Ever since I got married, I have got exposed to a totally different category of answers to the question - "What causes me acidity?". Well, I have known to get into trouble because of certain foods and Sambaar is definitely one of them. A slice of bread on the other hand gives me instant relief if I have eaten anything spicy or sour and feeling uneasy...
But recently, a very kind and well-meaning hostess insisted that people get acidity because of bread and I would get relief if I had sambaar rice or rasam rice. Well, this isn't a first for me.
I find it very amusing because whenever I complain about acidity to any of my in-laws, they promptly blame my "North Indian" eating habits like bread, potatoes etc. And whenever I complain about it to my side of relatives, they promptly sympathize with me for having to eat rasam, sambaar etc which according to them, cause acidity instantly.
The fact is that I get acidity from many foods both North and South Indian. I also get it if I eat anything that has rich gravy or contains lot of oil or is hot n spicy. But wait! This latter set of qualities does not describe North Indian food completely. It is as naive as calling entire South Indian food HOT because you have tasted Andhra cuisine. This is also perhaps the message I want to send earnestly. There is much more to North Indian food than gravies. It has rich variety of leafy veggie preps and totally healthy legumes, pulses and salads.
Another of my favorite examples about contradiction in preception is about chapatis. We (my family) consider rice to be easily digestible and hence categorise it as light food, suitable to be taken at night. Whereas my in-laws feel rice is heavy on stomach and therefore prefer to eat chappatis at night. Isn't it amazing that people can have absolutely different views on the same substance's effect on the human body!
Prior to a trip to Kerela, I thought that South Indian food consisted only of dosa, idli and uttapam. And I have met South Indians who think that North Indian food consists of little else than paneer and potatoes :-) This reminds me of the blind men trying to define an elephant. But it becomes a problem when people start critisizing anything that is not connected to their way of eating. Well, it is great that people feel proud of their cuisine but its ridiculous to consider everything else inferior!
I think there is a need to widen our horizons, get more accommodative about other cuisines. We need to appreciate that our country is extremely rich in cuisines and they do suit the people brought up in the region they have originated in.
Another amusing aspect is the small window of vision. In the past, I have got remarks that I must be fond of eating spicy food as I am a Maharashtrian. They ignore a small detail that Kolhapur is not entire Maharashtra :-) I think we should realize that cuisines in our country change very fast and very dramatically with distance.
Nevertheless, it is very interesting to observe people's perceptions about "other" food. These perceptions, as in any other case, are an interesting result of their culture, their own habits, observations, environments they have been influenced by and what they have been hearing from their mothers over the years...
Update
Then there are people like Raman, who are pretty tolerant about food and other ways of life in general. In case you were wondering why I missed out quoting his opinion about food...well, 2 reasons as can be seen from my reply to his first comment :-)
But recently, a very kind and well-meaning hostess insisted that people get acidity because of bread and I would get relief if I had sambaar rice or rasam rice. Well, this isn't a first for me.
I find it very amusing because whenever I complain about acidity to any of my in-laws, they promptly blame my "North Indian" eating habits like bread, potatoes etc. And whenever I complain about it to my side of relatives, they promptly sympathize with me for having to eat rasam, sambaar etc which according to them, cause acidity instantly.
The fact is that I get acidity from many foods both North and South Indian. I also get it if I eat anything that has rich gravy or contains lot of oil or is hot n spicy. But wait! This latter set of qualities does not describe North Indian food completely. It is as naive as calling entire South Indian food HOT because you have tasted Andhra cuisine. This is also perhaps the message I want to send earnestly. There is much more to North Indian food than gravies. It has rich variety of leafy veggie preps and totally healthy legumes, pulses and salads.
Another of my favorite examples about contradiction in preception is about chapatis. We (my family) consider rice to be easily digestible and hence categorise it as light food, suitable to be taken at night. Whereas my in-laws feel rice is heavy on stomach and therefore prefer to eat chappatis at night. Isn't it amazing that people can have absolutely different views on the same substance's effect on the human body!
Prior to a trip to Kerela, I thought that South Indian food consisted only of dosa, idli and uttapam. And I have met South Indians who think that North Indian food consists of little else than paneer and potatoes :-) This reminds me of the blind men trying to define an elephant. But it becomes a problem when people start critisizing anything that is not connected to their way of eating. Well, it is great that people feel proud of their cuisine but its ridiculous to consider everything else inferior!
I think there is a need to widen our horizons, get more accommodative about other cuisines. We need to appreciate that our country is extremely rich in cuisines and they do suit the people brought up in the region they have originated in.
Another amusing aspect is the small window of vision. In the past, I have got remarks that I must be fond of eating spicy food as I am a Maharashtrian. They ignore a small detail that Kolhapur is not entire Maharashtra :-) I think we should realize that cuisines in our country change very fast and very dramatically with distance.
Nevertheless, it is very interesting to observe people's perceptions about "other" food. These perceptions, as in any other case, are an interesting result of their culture, their own habits, observations, environments they have been influenced by and what they have been hearing from their mothers over the years...
Update
Then there are people like Raman, who are pretty tolerant about food and other ways of life in general. In case you were wondering why I missed out quoting his opinion about food...well, 2 reasons as can be seen from my reply to his first comment :-)